


A Distant Stranger That I Will Complete

by wishfulwannabe



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Fluff, Harry is very angsty, I'm Sorry, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Smut, Soulmate Necklaces, but just a little bit, it's cute, lack of zayn, soulmates also get flashbacks of each others lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 13:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2775224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishfulwannabe/pseuds/wishfulwannabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem is, Harry knows Niall is his soul mate. It's not so much a problem as it is a feeling that picks and picks at Harry to the point where he is pulling his hair out and tugging on his necklace that he tries and tries to get off but just can't. The problem isn't the fact that Niall is Harry's soul mate because Harry cried from happiness when he first found out. The problem is that Niall thinks he already found his soul mate.</p><p>OR, Soulmate AU where Harry and Niall are soulmates and Harry knows but Niall is too dumb to realize.<br/>Also based off of Make It to Me by Sam Smith</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Distant Stranger That I Will Complete

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by myself because I love Soulmate AU's and Narry and there is a lack of those two combined on here. Also inspired by the beautiful mind of Sam Smith and his song Make It to Me which I relate to in more ways than one.  
> Hope you enjoy!  
> None of these characters are mine nor am I affiliated with any of them. Please do not show this work to any of the people portrayed in this story.  
> Find me on tumblr; wishfulwannabe

The problem is, Harry knows Niall is his soul mate. It's not so much a problem as it is a feeling that picks and picks at Harry to the point where he is pulling his hair out and tugging on his necklace that he tries and tries to get off but just can't. The problem isn't the fact that Niall is Harry's soul mate because Harry cried from happiness when he first found out. The problem is that Niall thinks he already found his soul mate.  
Her name is Jane and she is absolutely beautiful with her blue eyes that almost match Niall's, but Harry thinks that no colour could ever be as beautiful as Niall's, curly brown hair and a laugh that anyone would smile at.  
She reminds Harry too much of Niall which sometimes convinces him that maybe she is his soul mate, but Harry can't forget the moment his necklace burnt his skin and memories burnt his skull when he first touched Niall.  
It was his first day of Uni and of course, Harry being Harry, he missed move-in day because he lost the letter that told him when he was able to settle in. His mum yelled a few choice words at him when she discovered this.  
He lugged his bags up the five flights of stairs to his new home for the next year. Room 527 stated in bold letters when he reached the door. Underneath were little beach balls stuck to the door, each with letters on them. One said Harry, ‘that's you' his mind supplied him, and the other Niall. Harry pushed open the door to discover the room was already packed to the top, stuff absolutely everywhere. He wasn't quite sure which bed to drop his stuff on because he didn't know which one belonged to his roommate.  
"Hello?" Harry called softly into the small room. How can someone even fit this much stuff into such a small amount of space?  
"Oi!" A voice calls out from behind one of the beds, little tuffs of blonde hair peaking up from where the boy is kneeling.  
"Are you okay? Do you need any help?" Harry asks cautiously, making sure his roommate isn't some serial killer that will get set off if he says the wrong thing. Harry really shouldn't have watched all of those movies the week before.  
"Can't find my fucking phone!" The boy yells, his cursing shocking Harry a bit. "Yes!" The boy cries out, followed by a thump. "Ouch."  
"Oh," Harry instantly drops all his bags where he was standing and rushes over beside the boy who is now sitting against the wall next to his bed, holding his head. "Are you alright?"  
"Yeah just bonked the old cranium here," The blonde taps his head and winces once he does so.  
"Could I take a look?" Harry asks, trying to get the boy to look up at him. When he does Harry isn't prepared and actually gasps. His eyes are what get him. They are a shade of blue Harry never thought he would see in his life, he thinks he might be able to swim in them, but then he realizes that isn't physically possible and shakes his head. The boy smirks next and Harry almost faints from how beautifully pink his lips are.  
"That all depends, do you know what you are doing?" The boy barks out a laugh and Harry really thinks he is going to faint now.  
"Not a biology major for nothing," Harry shrugs and the boy’s eyes widen and he smiles again.  
"Well in that case, go for it," The boy grabs Harry's wrist and that's when it becomes a shit show.  
He knew he was going to pass out just by the mere presence of the boy, but he didn't think he would actually pass out because the boy was his soul mate.  
He gets all of these flashbacks, an older boy with a protective aura, a woman with a smile almost identical to the boy he just met, an older man with hands that felt like home. He didn't know these people, Harry didn't, but his soul mate did.  
There are flashbacks of getting ice cream on a hot day with his older brother. Greg, his mind supplies him. Playing footie with all these other young boys, kicking the ball in a way Harry could never achieve. Drinking pints in a pub filled with other people. Holding a baby boy that tugs at Harry's heart like he loves this tiny child more than anyone else. Falling on the ground and feeling a pain in his knee like no other and Harry wants to diagnose the pain so bad, to make this boy feel better, but he can't think through the searing pain.  
He wakes up to those blue blue eyes and starts crying. The boy above him crinkles his eyebrows together and pinches his mouth up and Harry wants to surge up and smooth out his lips with his tongue but he's frozen. This is his soul mate. His burning necklace is a reminder of it.  
Harry has been waiting for his soul mate ever since he could understand why he had this necklace placed on him since he was a young boy. His friends hadn't been so into it, not understanding why Harry yearned to meet this stranger so bad. It intoxicated his thoughts constantly. What was his soul mate doing? Were they okay? Were they happy? Were they with someone else? What if they weren't even here? That one scared Harry the most. Most people meet their soul mate by the age of 17, so when Harry turned 18 and was still without a soul mate he began panicking. His mum assured him that he was fine, and things like this happen all the time. His sister scoffed but she wouldn't get it cause she sauntered herself up the stairs after that; to see her soul mate.  
But now here he is, his very own soul mate. So beautiful and perfect and lovely and everything Harry has ever imagined his soul mate would be. He starts to cry, of course, it’s Harry we are talking about here. The boy above him, Niall, according to those beach balls on the door, still stares at him, but this time with a worried glint to his eyes.  
“Fuck, are you okay?” Niall asks, pulling Harry up by his hands and his necklace burns even more to a point where he thinks it’s going to melt right through his skin.  
“I’m perfect,” Harry sighs, and he probably has this dopey grin on his face but he couldn't care less because this is his damn soul mate.  
“Mate, you’re crying,” Niall adds, tilting his head like he is trying to examine Harry. “You sure you’re okay?”  
Harry just sighs again and nods his head. He is expecting the glint of Niall’s necklace to catch his eye with the way the sun is beaming in from the window above one of the desks in the room but Harry soon realizes it doesn’t. Because there is no necklace there. And now that Harry comes to think of it, Niall isn’t crying or passing out with flashbacks of Harry’s life or even having his skin burnt by his necklace because there is no necklace.  
“Where is it?” Harry blurts out, pointing to the empty canvas, except some freckles and a red tint, of his neck.  
“Excuse me?”  
“Your necklace, where is it?”  
“Uhm,” Niall’s eyes dart around the room and Harry realizes that normal people whom just met each other don’t ask about the lack of another’s soul mate necklace. But Harry is so desperate and he is getting this unsettling feeling in his stomach and this is not how he thought meeting his soul mate would go. “I don’t have one,” Niall replies, almost like it is a question.  
“Oh.”  
“Yeah.”  
Harry just stares at the beautiful boy in front of him, completely baffled by this information. How do you not have a soul mate necklace? Everyone has a soul mate necklace. It is issued to every child when they turn 7 years old. It is government regulated in every crevice of the world. How does Niall not have one?  
“I bet you are wondering why I don’t have one.” And Harry is just freaked out now.  
“Uhm, yeah, if you don’t mind telling me.” Harry tries to sound welcoming, tries to show Niall with his words that he would listen to Niall’s voice every second of the day if he could, with his Irish accent and gravely undertone. This is his fucking soul mate and he would gladly give up his own voice to hear his.  
“Well, first off, I’m Niall,” He sticks out his hand and Harry just stares at it dumbly.  
Yeah, I know, is what Harry wants to say but instead he sticks out his hand and says. “I’m Harry, and we are roommates.”  
Niall giggles, he fucking giggles and Harry wants to know where the hell this boy has been his whole life. “Yes, we are. And you want to know where my soul mate necklace is.” Harry nods his head so fast he thinks he will get whiplash and Niall just giggles again. “Well, my mum never believed in soul mate necklaces. Her and my dad were perfect for each other. Loved each other. Their necklaces were almost set on fire the first time they touched,” Harry wants to butt in and say mine too but he thinks it’s a little inappropriate. “But then they got divorced. It was horrible and messy and when I turned 7, mum hid me so that I wouldn’t have to get one. Said all it would do is cause trouble. My older brother Greg was lucky and found his soul mate, Denice, and now they have the greatest baby in the world, Theo. Happiest baby I have ever seen,” Niall has this smile on his face that Harry knows exactly what baby he is talking about, the tiny boy in his flashbacks that tugged at his heart while he was in a haze. He hopes one day this baby will be able to tug at his heart when he is conscience.  
“I’m so sorry,” Is the only thing Harry can think to say. Maybe it is because he has been hung up about finding his soul mate for forever and now that he has he hasn’t felt anything like it., causing his brain to feel like a pile of mush instead of a full functioning organ.  
“It’s alright,” Niall smiles. And Harry thinks yes it is alright because I am your soul mate and you are mine so you didn’t need that silly necklace anyways. “I found my soul mate already so it worked out in the end.” And this shocks Harry.  
His heart starts beating and he can’t wipe the smile off of his face because maybe Niall felt it too, this gut feeling that they were meant to be beside each other for the rest of their lives and all Harry can manage to squeak out is a “Really?”  
“Yeah,” Niall grins at him like Harry holds the world in his hands and Harry wants to burry himself under Niall’s skin so maybe he can always be a part of him. “Her name is Jane.”  
Fuck. Is the only thing that Harry can think. And then; how? Because Harry is Niall’s soul mate and Niall is Harry’s and that is the way it is supposed to be for the rest of eternity but Niall has somehow already found his soul mate and Harry wants to jump out of the window and splatter to the ground because this can’t be happening.  
“Jane?” Harry wants to throw up once the name leaves his mouth.  
“Yeah, met her last year in a coffee shop with my mate Liam. She said her necklace felt like it was going to burn right through her skin,” And Harry really wants to throw up now because that’s exactly what he was thinking. “Been together ever since and hopefully will stay together forever.”  
All Harry wants to do is run. He wants to run and hide in a corner and cry until he is empty because anything would feel better than how he feels right now. He is just about to do that when a girl walks in. This beautiful girl whose eyes almost match Niall’s and has curly brown hair, not much different from Harry’s, and the sweetest smile on her face.  
“Looks like you found your roommate,” She laughs and Harry is really considering jumping out that window right now. He glares at this girl and wants to say no, he found his soul mate but she is too sweet and Niall is looking at her the way Harry probably looks at Niall.  
“Yep, he is a pretty cool guy,” Niall chirps out, slinging his arm around Harry’s shoulder and in turn making Harry’s necklace alight against his skin. Jane suddenly blanches, but only for a moment, before she shakes her head and places a smile on her face again. “We’re gonna be the best of mates."  
~  
Niall was right when he said they were going to be the best of mates. After Harry saw how happy Niall was with Jane, he pushed down the knowledge of Niall being his soul mate so that he could see Niall smile the way he did when he was around Jane. Harry did have a struggle the first few times he hung out with Jane and Niall, excusing himself from the room once or twice to retch up his last meal into the toilets of their shared washroom.  
But Harry got used to it. He met Niall’s friend Liam, and introduced Niall to his friend Louis and his soul mate Zayn, and they all became inseparable. It was around exam time that everything went to hell.  
Louis has been Harry’s best friend since they were 13 and Harry decided it would be a good idea to try and climb one of the statues in front of his school. That got him a seat in detention and also a phone call home to his mum who grounded him for 2 months. Harry still thinks that part was ridiculous. He was exercising his imagination.  
The only good thing to come out of the situation was Louis. When Harry got to detention there was only another boy there, sitting on top of one of the desks and swinging his short legs back and forth. Once the teacher pushed Harry into the room and slammed the door behind him, Louis looked up and smiled at Harry.  
“What did you do to get in here?”  
“Climbed the statue in the front.”  
“That was you?”  
“Yeah.”  
“You’re a legend.”  
And from then on Louis and Harry became LouisandHarry and when Louis went off to Uni before Harry, Harry knew that he needed to go to the same one as Louis. So once he got his acceptance letter, Harry called Louis straight away to tell him they would be stuck together for another four years.  
Since they are best friends, it is only logical for Harry to tell Louis absolutely everything.  
“Niall is my soul mate,” Harry let slip after slamming his biology text book closed. They had both been in Louis’s single room, perks of being an upperclassman, studying away, since exams were only a few weeks away and Harry’s scholarship was ridding on him acing every single test and assignment he handed in.  
Louis snapped his head up from where he was typing rapidly on his laptop and narrowed his eyes at Harry, “You’re shitting me.”  
“Nope,” Harry popped the p and shook his head and Louis’ eyes grew to the size of golf balls.  
“Since when?” Louis shoved his laptop off his lap and onto his dingy bed spread that he and Zayn have done who knows what on. “What about Jane?”  
“I haven’t figured that one out yet,” Harry sighs, looking Louis straight in the eye so that maybe he will understand the truth. “But I know that I am Niall’s soul mate and he is mine.”  
There is a silence between the two while Louis thinks it over. Harry twists on his bed, hasn't felt this uncomfortable with Louis since the one time he walked in on him wanking.  
“Have you told him yet?”  
“No.”  
“When did you know?”  
“First day we met. He hit his head off his bed and I went to go look at it. He grabbed my wrist and I passed out,” Harry smiles remembering Niall’s face once he woke up. Before everything went to hell. “All the flashbacks and memories were there, my necklace was searing, Lou.”  
“Harry,” Louis starts, opening and closing his mouth like if he doesn’t try maybe the words will eventually make their way out. “I think you should tell him.  
“Are you crazy?!” Harry shouts, shooting off his bed. “How am I even supposed to do that?! ‘Hey, Niall. So funny story, Jane’s not your soul mate, I am. Now let's go live our lives together.’”  
“Well yeah, but-“  
“But nothing, Louis, it’s not going to happen,” Harry really wishes there weren’t tears gathering in his eyes right now.  
He gives one look Louis’ way and sees the sympathy in his eyes before he has collapsed into his arms, choking out every sob he has ever felt in the past few months. “I waited all of this time for him Lou,” Harry somehow gets out through the tears. “He is so beautiful, and he is my soul mate and I can’t even have him.”  
Louis hushes him and pats his hair, it’s the only thing he can think to do. The rest of his mind is clouded with the fact that Niall and Harry are soul mates but Niall thinks Jane is his soul mate and how did this shit even happen? What did his Harry do to deserve this?  
~  
That wasn’t even the worst part though. It's a Wednesday night and Harry has his biology exam in two days. Seeing as it's his major, he had been studying for the past two weeks, rereading his textbook three times, making cue cards, even getting Niall to test him even though he is a sociology major and had no clue what any of the stuff Harry was studying meant.  
Niall just went out to see Jane. She had her second exam of the week earlier on in the day and Niall wanted to check up on her to see if she had done well. It was a surprise thing. Harry never liked surprises.  
It's around 10:27 pm when Niall slams open the door to their dorm, making Harry jump up from his seat at his desk, ready to attack whoever just barged into his room. Niall’s face is red. Harry would describe it as a fire truck or a tomato or anything really that resembled how red Niall’s face truly is. But when he looks up to meet Harry’s eyes it isn’t just his face that is red.  
“Niall? What’s wrong, I thought you were staying at Jane’s tonight?” And once Harry says her name Niall drops to the floor in a pile, sobs racking through his small body. Harry races over to him and slowly picks him up off the floor, placing him in Harry’s bed because he figured Niall’s may smell like Jane and Harry had a feeling that is the last thing Niall wants to think about at the moment.  
Niall clings to Harry and naturally Harry shoves his head into his neck, feeling the wetness from his tears slick up his skin there. “She’s supposed to be my soul mate,” Niall sobs, clinging onto Harry even more.  
“Who, Jane?”  
“Who the fuck else?!” Niall yells, tearing away from Harry and rubbing harshly at his eyes. He sniffles and meets Harry’s eyes, sighing and letting a few more tears fall. “She has been screwing Liam for the past year.”  
Harry freezes at that. He feels conflicted with himself, but he should have a right to be. He wants to feel mad and march right over to Jane’s to give her and Liam a piece of his mind. But he also wants to feel hope. Hope that maybe he can tell Niall finally that Jane somehow thought Niall was her soul mate and claimed Niall as her own when he has been Harry’s all along.  
“How do you know?” Harry asks carefully, not really wanting to know the answer.  
“Walked in on them together. She said that Liam is actually her soul mate but didn’t have the heart to tell me,” Niall scoffs and seems absolutely livid.  
“I’m so sorry Niall,” Harry carefully reaches forwards and pulls Niall into his arms. Right where he belongs.  
“When we met at the coffee shop she touched Liam’s arm, not mine. His necklace heated up too. Liam passed out on the way home but I didn’t think anything about it. He saw her memories. And didn’t tell me. He said he didn’t want to let me down like that,” Niall shakes his head against Harry’s chest, a few more drops of moisture hitting Harry’s skin. “They have been sneaking around ever since they found out they were each others. They never told me, Haz. What if they never did?”  
Harry seriously thinks about this. Niall would have probably been with Jane for the rest of his life. Loved her and had kids with her. Maybe named one of them after Harry. Speaking of, what would Harry have done? Wallow in his self pity maybe. Try to move on and find someone else whom vaguely reminded him of Niall. But now. Maybe Harry doesn’t have to do that.  
“I don’t know, Niall,” Harry whispers, kissing him once on the forehead.  
“My real soul mate would never have found me, that’s for sure. They would have missed out,” Niall tries to lighten the mood, just like he always does.  
But Harry. Harry being Harry lets it slip like he always does. “Well I guess I don’t have to miss out anymore.”  
They both freeze. Harry wants to just stop breathing completely. Niall slowly pulls away and looks Harry straight in the eye. Has Harry ever mentioned how much he loves how blue his eyes are?  
“Your eyes are so blue,” Harry blurts out dumbly and he wishes he had an off button.  
“Harry.”  
“And your lips are so pink, they remind me of the prettiest flowers my mum used to pull from the garden in the spring and place around the house.”  
“Harry.”  
“And your skin reminds me of fresh snow on the ground on Christmas morning.”  
“Harry.”  
Niall keeps getting louder but Harry can’t stop.  
“And your hair reminds me of sunshine.”  
“Harry.”  
Louder.  
“And your laugh, the sweetest music to ever be composed.”  
“Harry!”  
Niall shouts now. Niall never shouts. Harry shuts up.  
“Harry.” Niall says one last time, for good measures. “Are you my soul mate?”  
“Maybe,” Harry mumbles, dodging Niall’s eyes whenever he tries to catch his own.  
“Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“You had Jane! What was I supposed to do?!”  
“I don’t know, touch my arm and make me feel your heart. Kiss me. Scream it in my face!”  
And so Harry does all three of those things. He grabs Niall’s wrist and places his hand over his necklace shaped like a heart. Niall pulls away fast from the warm feeling radiating from the necklace. Harry kisses his fingers where the necklace burnt him, then pulls him in close. He places a kiss on his forehead. Then his cheeks. Left then right. Then his jaw right below his earlobe. The corners of his mouth. Harry is so close and he can hear Niall’s ragged breathing, feel it brush against his lips. Then he places a kiss right on his pretty pink lips. Harry wants more, God Harry has wanted more since he first laid eyes on him, but he only gives Niall a small peck. He pulls away and looks Niall right in the eyes.  
“I’m your soul mate!” Harry screams it in Niall’s face, just like he asked him to and Niall grins so wide.  
He jumps on him, buries himself into Harry the way Harry had wanted to burry himself under Niall’s skin the second he found out they were soul mates. And Niall giggles, which Harry has already determined is his favourite sound in the entire world.  
“I hoped so,” Niall whispers into his ear and Harry grips onto Niall’s shirt a little tighter. “It’s a little hard to explain to your supposed soul mate that you are in love with your best mate who, surprise, is your actual soul mate.”  
“I have never liked surprises,” Harry starts. “But this one I will let slide.”  
“Good,” Niall pulls away from Harry’s neck and surges for his lips.  
This is all Harry has ever wanted from the moment he met Niall. He wanted to take him and own him and call him his own. Niall is Harry’s and Harry is Niall’s.  
And that is exactly what Harry does with Niall.  
He is slow and gentle, making sure to worship ever inch of Niall’s body. He relishes in the squirms and noises Niall lets out. And Harry lied before when he said that his favourite noise is Niall’s giggle because the noises he lets out as Harry nips along his skin and opens him up solely with his tongue are definitely his favourite.  
They reach their point of ecstasy together, Harry read once that only soul mates could do that. Harry bits down on Niall’s neck and Niall grips onto Harry’s necklace so hard Harry thinks it will break off.  
And Harry thinks it is kind of ironic how he wanted to rip his own necklace off just last week if it meant that it would stop burning his skin every time he brushed against Niall.  
But now, when he is intertwined with Niall, as close together as human beings can get, Harry prays for that burn, wishes it upon himself so it will ground him and he can chant in his head over and over Niall is my soul mate, Niall is my soul mate.  
And after when they are lying in bed, Harry looks just below Niall’s collar bone to the place where his soul mate necklace would be and sees the shape of Harry’s heart burnt into his skin.  
Niall catches Harry’s wandering eyes. “It was lying there while we, uh, yeah. And I guess it burnt into my skin.” Harry’s fingertips lightly brush over it and Niall winces so Harry pulls his hand back but Niall just holds on. “No, touch it, please,” Niall places Harry’s fingers over the burn and closes his eyes, drinking in the sensitive feeling. “Want to know what it feels like for you.”  
Harry almost laughs at that. Because Harry wishes he could take his emotions and put them into Niall so that he would understand how much Harry is in love with him. How much he wants to live the rest of his life but only if Niall is there by his side. And Harry wants Niall to know how he has completed Harry. That Harry never realized how empty he was until Niall came into his life.  
“You completed me, Haz,” And this has happened a few times before. Harry doesn't think soul mates can read minds but he is sure Niall could read his. Or maybe they are so in sync they just know. “We were strangers and now you have completed me.”  
And yeah. Maybe Harry went through a few shit months and threw up more times than he could count and some nights would cry until he was empty. But he would do it again and again if it meant he could lay here with Niall just like this.  
“No, Niall,” Harry places a last kiss to his forehead, wanting to burn his lips into his skin the way his necklace did. “We completed each other.”


End file.
